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What Marketers Think They Know About You and What They Really Do

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-don't-even-know-you-anymore dept.

mattydread23 writes "Data broker Acxiom did something a little unusual this week. It launched a service that lets you see the data they've collected on you. CITEworld writer Ron Miller checked it out, and found it to be mostly laughably inaccurate. Among the things they got wrong included his religion, his interests, and the number of kids he has. But worst? It pegged him as a Windows user."

4 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. Give me the link! by bkk_diesel · · Score: 5, Informative

    I had to click through to a third page before getting a link to the relevant website.

    The Acxiom site is found at https://aboutthedata.com/.

    Privacy policy (FWIW) is here: https://aboutthedata.com/privacy/

  2. Click here to see what they have on you by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    TFA says:

    "Data broker Acxiom did something a little unusual this week. It launched a service that lets you see the data they've collected on you"

    Unfortunately that link got you to a page on www.citeworld.com which carries a link to www.nytimes.com

    After a wild goose chase I finally got that link ---

    https://aboutthedata.com/

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  3. Only a glimpse by rgrbrny · · Score: 5, Informative
    So, I read the article that the article links to--spare me the "you must be new here jokes"--and found this interesting bit:

    Although the site shows visitors a few facts that some might consider sensitive, like race and ethnicity, it initially omits, at least in the version I saw, intimate references — like “gambling,” “senior needs,” “smoker in the household” and “adult with wealthy parent” — that Acxiom markets to corporate clients but that might discomfit consumers if they knew they were for sale.

    So Axciom's transparency portal isn't so transparent at all...

  4. Re:I'm not falling for that! by geminidomino · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't forget every insurance company those employers have ever provided benefits for, any bank you've ever had an account with, and if you've gone to college, they've got it, too -- and, if so, trust me, it's out there now.